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| | The Marketing, Channels/Partnership & Sales Execs Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Looking for advice. | Views: 1964 | | Sep 28, 2005 11:01 pm | | Looking for advice. | # | 
Jeffrey Henderson | | Hi everyone. This is my first post and I am looking for ideas/advice. I am the Director of Marketing for an search engine optimization firm. For the last three years we didn't do any kind of outside sales but we recently noticed some of our competitors are using telemarketers to contact businesses and to pitch them. I've been trying this myself before I hire any more sales guys and I have gotten some pretty good results and a few new accounts. I'm looking for other ways to put our comapny out there and to seperate ourselves from our competition. Unfortuately there are a lot of unethical companies out there who are giving our industry a bad name. We have never had any complaints about our service and you won't see anyhting bad on the internet about us. If you look you can find some articles giving us some very positive feedback. We get a lot of business from our website right now but honestly a lot of business owners don't know this service exists or don't realize how much of a positive impact it can have for them. The only way for us to get htese kinds of clients is to contact them.
I am looking for any suggestions or advice I can get. Please share your expertise with me.
Jeffrey Henderson
Director of Marketing
VIP Search Engine Marketing
www.vipsem.comPrivate Reply to Jeffrey Henderson | | Oct 05, 2005 4:18 am | | re: Looking for advice. | # | 
Thomas Holford | | Jeffrey:
Several months ago, I attended presentation to potential investors by one of your competitors.
I left the presentation muttering to my self the woeful lament of more than a few internet-age roadkill:
"There was a lot of stuff they never told us in business school about marketing on the internet".
My point is that there is an awful lot going in the world of marketing communication via internet search engines that most people simply don't get. There is a screaming need for basic education.
My suggestion is that instead of doing tele-marketing or one-on-one direct selling, you organize classes or seminars on the topic of "Harnessing the Power of Internet Search Engine Marketing for Your Business". You might even do this through a University Extension or a community college.
First, you need to educate businesses on the whole process of search engine keywords, charge per click, etc.
Once, you create a savvy audience on the use of search engines for marketing communication, THEN you can sell them on the need for Search Engine Optimization. You'll have a captive market, eating out of your hand.
My two cents worth.
Regards,
Tom HolfordPrivate Reply to Thomas Holford | | Oct 06, 2005 12:21 am | | re: Looking for advice. | # |
JohnandLaura | | Hi Jeffery, I'm not sure of the statistical data you've used to make the claim that a lot of business owners don't know about SEO services. In the local market here in Phoenix I've asked a few hundred members at Chamber of Commerce meetings, and about 1 in 250 or so are unfamiliar with the services. In any case the cheif of complaints about your business niche is the total lack of increased sales as a result of the expense of the service. Many business owners describe something similar to:
We got really caught up in the hype for Search Engine placement, Google page rank, and link popularity. We put hours and weeks and months of work into the website(s) and thousands of dollars. Later, as we came to our senses, we realized that we had forgotten that Search Engines don't buy the products, customers do. Our sales per customer ratio was dropping with every SEO improvement. Sure enough we had great page rank and Google placement but our website and pages lacked good saleabilty.
I've made some pretty good money helping companies get more sales from their websites and designing marketing strategies for future sales growth. Many of my best customers were badly damaged by SEO gurus. Also, in 20 some years of working with CEO's and business owners I can not recall one conversation about their fantastic telephone solicitation service experience they had received. In the few mentionings of telephone solicitations there were many words used that the Pastor of the local church would disaprove of, but nothing positive. Private Reply to JohnandLaura | | Nov 19, 2005 9:41 am | | re: Looking for advice. | # |
Amod Atre | | Hi Jeffrey
I agree with Thomas, infact there are lot of companies and free software available but they are just meant to decieve the customers, due to this the people who are serious do get affected.
You can organise a seminar on Internet marketing or the best practices on internet and make people aware of your company. Going ahead you can also look at other countries.
AmodPrivate Reply to Amod Atre | | Nov 27, 2005 6:07 pm | | re: re: Looking for advice. | # |
bill sobel | | I agree with the seminar idea. Customers like to be educated, especially if its out of the office in a laid back, informal atmosphere...outside of the office setting.
Not sure of your budget but you could look into a local hotel and rent a conference room, that includes food, for a very reasonable rate and be able to show your presentation, allow for q&a as well as informal networking.
-BillPrivate Reply to bill sobel | | Dec 01, 2005 5:34 am | | re: re: Looking for advice. | # |
Elizabeth Rapps | | First, I am not an internet guru! However. I was once considering launching a website and during my research ran into an interesting marketing technique more than once. Position yourself as an expert. There are a variety of websites and web-based newsletters that offer advice. Submission to each will probably work differently, but you can write an educational, informative article and submit it for inclusion. You will then be listed as the writer along with your company info. Good chance is that the site will contact you again when they're looking for a story on another topic in your arena. A PR tactic.
It actually worked on me quite effectively. Each article I read and really liked, was followed up by a visit to the author's website.
Good Luck.
Liz Private Reply to Elizabeth Rapps | | Dec 20, 2005 3:35 pm | | re: Looking for advice. | # |
Joy Levin | | Hi Jeffrey -
Several individuals have already commented about seminars and I think this is a great idea for you. Are you a member of the AMA (American Marketing Association)? They do a lot of webinars, and this may be an even better option for you, given your service and your target.
With regard to the comment about content over SEO, I think both are important. I think one good idea might be to partner with a web design firm in the webinar, so you can show people how they really need to have both. Moreover, this type of partnership could create some great synergies for you and the firm you choose.
Good luck,
Joy Private Reply to Joy Levin | | Dec 20, 2005 9:12 pm | | re: re: Looking for advice. | # | 
Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan | | Jeffrey,
I’ve worked with several SEO firms and I do my best to steer clear of traditional “peddler” type activities. People hate being bugged on the phone.
Also, the big problem is credibility: “If with all the SEO smarts in your company you still have to do traditional chasing-hunting-hounding-pounding type prospecting grunt work, what can I the client expect. Pay you a truckload of money and hire a legion of tele-peddlers?”
Also, I think the website’s landing page is structured incorrectly. Clients don’t care about YOUR solution until and unless you remind them of TEHIR problems…
And their problem is NOT the lack of SEO ranking. No.
It is...
Dwindling sales
Lack of qualified leads
Too long sales cycles
High cost of acquiring new business
Low reputation
Limited sales territory
Etc.
Here is a sort of template I use when I write web copy: http://di-squad.com/toolshed/ten-sales-influencing-website-home-page-elements.html It may help a bit.
You can follow a similar outline at http://www.galaxyinteractive.net/content_development.html or http://legendaryvalue.com/
They SEO and management consulting respectively, but they come across differently from the majority of the messages in the same industry.
Also, look at your competitors’ sites. Yours looks almost identical. There is no differentiation. Your firm blends into the crowd, so you make prospects' selection work extra hard.
And since the key is to get better clients not merely more clients, you may have to aim higher, and in my experience direct mail is a good way reaching top dogs in bigger companies without being bumped off by a gatekeeper. In most companies the gatekeepers don’t even let you talk to the economic buyer.
Thoughts
Cheers
Tom
http://www.di-squad.com Private Reply to Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan | | Dec 21, 2005 3:01 pm | | re: re: re: Looking for advice. | # | 
Lydia Sugarman | | Those are great suggestions. Thanks for the links. I'll be checking them out during Christmas week.
Just came across another great tip this morning in Marcia Yudkin's newsletter.
Whenever you send out feelers to potential clients, include an offer. That includes engagements or products $10,000 and up. Everyone, including C-level people, like being courted and receiving something of value. Asking for a meeting to tell them about what you're selling automatically creates resistance. But, if you did something like the international marketing consultant who did this -
"At your convenience during January,
I'll present a complimentary, private one-hour executive
briefing on current market conditions in a European country
of your choosing."
you are more likely to get the meeting, establish your credibility, and make the sale. It's kind of like what we tell recent college grads who are job hunting...ask for a meeting to get advice. Except it's you who's offering the insight.
Great thread.
Lydia Private Reply to Lydia Sugarman | | |
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